Applications and application environments, for example business applications and portals, respectively, can vary technologically due to use of different software, hardware, and networking technologies as well as adoption of different software, networking, and user interface standards/protocols. Calling an application from another application to obtain data typically requires specific knowledge of the availability of the called application and how to properly interface with the called application and/or the application environment is it executing in. Changes to the called application and/or an associated application environment can require maintenance of the applications, interfaces, and/or application environment, resulting in a need to inform application/application environment users of the changes and updating of application/application environment software. Developers and support personnel must also typically be especially skilled in multiple hardware, software, networking, and/or other technologies in order to design, develop, and/or support applications calling other applications for data. Development/maintenance time and cost as well as the specialized knowledge requirements can result in a higher-than-necessary total cost of application/application environment ownership for an organization.